1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates generally to cementitious building panels, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved method of forming a cementitious building panel.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art.
Concrete has long been used as a construction material because of its many beneficial qualities. For example, concrete is strong, particularly in compressive modes, and durable under a wide range of environmental and temperature conditions. Further, concrete is fireproof and insect proof. Finally, it can be formed into any desired shape or configuration.
The beneficial qualities of concrete listed above make concrete an ideal material for the fabrication of roofing, flooring, and exterior walls for all types of buildings ranging from residential to commercial and industrial. To this end, cementitious building panels have been formed in the past by pouring a cementitious mixture into a mold configured to provide the cementitious panel with a desired exterior wall texture. For example, the cementitious panel may be formed to have a stucco, brick, limestone, or cinder block appearance. The cementitious panels are in turn secured to the frame structure of a building in a side by side relation.
While the use of such cementitious panels has been well received in the building industry, efficiencies nevertheless have been experienced in the manufacturing process. To begin, the time generally required to form a cementitious panel, which includes pouring the cementitious mixture into the mold and allowing the cementitious mixture to dry sufficiently to permit the panel to be removed from the mold without damaging the panel, has been approximately eight hours. As such, if it were desirable to produce 100 panels in an eight hour production shift, for example, approximately 100 molds would be needed for each different panel profile. The need for this many molds requires an extensive capital investment and results in the need for extensive mold storage space.
Another inefficiency is experienced in forming cementitious panels which are intended to replicate brick or other masonry forms on which there is a mortar joint that is distinctive in color from the face color of the brick. These types of products have been formed in the past by hand pouring a first cementitious mixture having a brick color into spaced apart brick face cavities in measured amounts and then pouring a second cementitious mixture having a desired mortar joint color over the first cementitious mixture. It is important that the two pours be made while both cementitious mixtures are still in a liquid state so that their common surfaces are free to commingle and thereby avoid the formation of a xe2x80x9ccold jointxe2x80x9d. While it is possible to hand pour the individual brick face cavities, this is an extremely slow and time consuming task requiring experienced personnel twenty to thirty man minutes per 4 ft.xc3x978 ft. panel.
To this end, a need exists for a method of forming lightweight cementitious building panels, both single color and multiple color, in a more time and cost efficient manner. It is to such a method that the present invention is directed.
The present invention is directed to a method of forming a cementitious panel. The method includes the steps of: (1) providing a mold configured to provide the desired surface appearance and profile of the cementitious panel; (2) introducing a cementitious mixture into the mold; (3) curing the cementitious mixture to form a cementitious panel by applying microwave energy to the cementitious mixture for a predetermined time period; and (4) removing the cementitious panel from the mold.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of forming a cementitious panel having a front face formed to have a brick appearance which includes a plurality of rectangularly shaped brick portions separated from each other by a mortar joint portion. The method includes the steps of: (1) providing a mold having a plurality of spaced apart brick face cavities; (2) introducing a first cementitious mixture into each of the brick faced cavities of the mold; (3) introducing a second cementitious mixture, on top of the first cementitious mixture, that is distinctive in color from the first cementitious mixture introduced into the brick face cavities so as to produce the mortar joint portion; (4) curing the first and second cementitious mixtures to form a cementitious panel by applying microwave energy to the cementitious mixture for a predetermined time period; and (5) removing the cementitious building panel from the mold.
The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.